It’s difficult to write about what happened yesterday at the Emirates Stadium. That’s if you’re an Arsenal fan, of course. I have to say I was quite optimistic, having seen the team line-up ahead of the game. This was a team more than capable of beating a Suarezless and Gerrardless Liverpool, especially at home. I’ll start with some of the positives.
The only real surprise for me was Sagna at left back. The decision makes sense though, considering Carl Jenkinson’s inexperience, it was maybe better to let him play in his preferred position and put a more reliable Bacary Sagna on the left. You could see that our number 3 was a little uncomfortable at times, but he coped with it brilliantly and young Carl did a decent job on the other side of the pitch. Of course, switching full backs meant we won’t be able to fully use them in attack, but I feel defensive solidity was more of a priority.
Thomas Vermaelen had an outstanding game. The way he organized his defenders was fantastic and he gave Andy Carroll no chance, beating him for every long ball and leaving him on his arse all the time. You could see just how important the Belgian is to Arsenal and let’s hope that last season’s horrors are behind him. Wojciech Szczesny showed he is top quality once again with several vital saves, one that comes to mind was Andy Carroll’s only header on goal in the first half. He needed a full stretch to get to that and overall Wojciech literally kept us in the game and I don’t think he’s to blame for any of the goals.
In the middle Emmanuel Frimpong was impressive. He got a harsh booking very early in the game and he needed to be cautious for the rest of the 90 minutes. Martin Atkinson is the ref who sent more players off than anyone else in the Premier League last season and you could see the red coming for the youngster. His lack of experience was probably the main reason for him to go into that challenge with Charlie Adam the way he did. Studs up and foot high off the ground, Frimpong was lucky not to be shown a straight red by the official. It was a stupid, but he’s still raw and will learn from it. Other than that he showed a lot of energy and passion which was nice to see. He even came close to scoring in the first half when he struck one from long-range just wide. He’s got talent, Emmanuel Frimpong, and I think he could really challenge Song for his place during the season.
Samir Nasri was good as well and the crowd was supportive to him and that was nice to see. Whether he’ll leave or not, I don’t know, but he gave his best yesterday. He had a few attempts on goal but none of them really troubled the goalkeeper. Samir is a winner and I will be more than happy to see him stay. I know what he’s said, I know what happened during the summer but we need our best players to remain at the club if we want to achieve something. Samir could be a vital part of our campaign and I hope the Boss manages to keep him. Strangely enough, when asked about Nasri’s eventual transfer to City, Arsene Wenger said “I don’t know”. We’ll see what happens there.
And that’s about where the positives end. It was a strange performance by Arsenal. I don’t remember to have seen Arsenal play so defensively in the past few years, except when we played Barcelona. At times I even thought we were playing for the 0-0. Theo Walcott didn’t have the best of games and was kept quiet by the Liverpool defenders. He didn’t get much of the ball and there were no spaces to exploit with his pace. When he did get the ball he lost it and when he managed to cross it into the box there was no one there. Robin van Persie couldn’t do much either. He had one fantastic chance, the Dutchman, shortly before Frimpong’s red card when he received a great ball on the edge of the six-yard box only to hit it straight at Pepe Reina. That was a real opener and it could have changed the game, but Robin’s finish wasn’t accurate enough. I can remember one run by Theo Walcott through the center and he had a completely unmarked Andrey Arshavin to his left but chose to pass it to the captain who had all the Liverpool defenders around him. Another bad mistake in the final third. Aaron Ramsey was absent for the most part of the game as well.
It was strange to me that we couldn’t get our passing game going all game. We had a few moments but nothing more than that. The lack of off the ball movement was shocking and with no one available to pass to, it was hard to see how we could turn things around. Frimpong’s deserved red card killed the contest and we were massively unlucky shortly after. Ignasi Miquel tried to clear a dangerous through pass to Luis Suarez but the ball rebounded of Aaron Ramsey’s head and looped over our goalkeeper. Nothing anyone could have really done about that and the game was over. For the second we were torn apart by Liverpool and Meireles was left uncovered, he then squared the ball to Suarez and the Uruguayan passed it into an open net.
We’ve also added to the injury list. Laurent Koscielny limped off midway through the first half with what seemed to be a problem with his lower back. There was no one around him, I didn’t see anything that could have caused him this injury either. Just how serious that is we’ll have to wait and see but the early information is that he’ll be out for the next two games. It happened out of nowhere and Ignasi Miquel was brought in for his Premier League début. Credit to the young Spaniard, in my opinion he played quite well. Strangely, Sebastien Squillaci was not even in the group and there were some reports after the game that he’s not in the manager’s plans for the season. I sure hope so.
It was a poor performance by Arsenal’s standards, but we still had our chances and I think we could have won that game. It hurts, but we’re still early in the season and there’s plenty of time to put things right. Calling for Wenger’s head though, is madness. I’m convinced that the Frenchman is the right man for the job but some changes have to be made. There are issues in the team and they need to be addressed before the end of the month. We need a center back, possibly a left back and someone in the middle, especially if Nasri leaves..
We need experienced players. Carl Jenkinson is a promising lad but he’s not ready yet. We’re yet to see how Ryo and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will do in the Premier League, but they’re still pretty raw and it’s a little early for them, in my opinion. Joel Campbell is an exciting prospect too, but we need complete and experienced players now, not in five years time.
Finally, have a read at Gunnerblog‘s post match blog post. It’s a quality piece, worth a look.
Whatever happens Arsenal will go on. It’s a difficult period for the team, but I’m convinced that they have more than enough in them to get themselves out of trouble. Now the focus must turn to Udinese. We’ve got a vital game on Wednesday and we have to go through. It’s as simple as that. More from me tomorrow.
